pigs in a blanket!!!

so last friday at work we were told that june was actually AP dept's turn to throw the deck party.  this was quite a shock seeings as how the ENTIRE DEPARTMENT thought that we had july.  later in the day it was revealed to us that it was to be thrown the following wednesday.  which was yesterday.  so denise and nicole grabbed me and we started planning the picnic style (denise and nicole's idea) deck party.  we decided that we would all three cook for the event and that denise and i would go shopping on saturday for food.  

on saturday denise showed up armed with a pcard and re-useable grocery bags and off we went to grocery outlet.  i'd never actually been in grocery outlet and i'd always been interested in what kind of a grocery store they were and we were not disappointed.

i decided to make mini pigs in a blanket and to throw together ingredients for simple sandwiches.  denise was making a bean dip, macaroni and cheese and banana nilla wafer pudding desert.  nicole was making tater tot casserole.

it was nice to see such healthy food in the basket.

then we stopped off at fred meyers and got the beer and some other stuff:

we even got julie her very own beer:

she was either going to be super pissed about the clamato and bud light or super excited.  i wasn't too sure which one it was going to be.

after work on tuesday i made the pigs in a blanket:

alistair always cuts frozen blueberries on the cutting board, so it's stained a nice brownish purple!

i was really proud of myself that i only stuffed one in my face when i was cooking them.

i didn't get much work done at work on wednesday and pretty much spent the whole day setting shit up for the deck party.  other people from our dept volunteered to help out:

xine looked fabulous in her apron.  julie and her made ants on a log.  and julie got her beer early.  she needed a little something to help her through shiteloads of celery, peanut butter and raisins.  needless to say, she LOVED her beer!

everything looked fantastic.  amy found red and white tablecloths.  xine busted out a killer watermelon basket.  i think it all came together nicely!

the deck party was supposed to be located out on the new 6th floor deck, but since this is seattle and it's june  that was pretty much out of the question.  we stuck the beer out there in coolers and let people fight for their lives in the horrible wind.

it was a typical grey cloudy crappy june day.  although the sun did come out right when i was coming home at 5:30 so that's super neat.

i had a little of everything except the mac n cheese.

emily made the announcements: new hires, birthday and anniversaries for june.

i think everyone had fun...

it doesn't look like there were many people there, but that room was CROWDED and loud!  i really should have taken a shot of the line of people for food.  impressive.

dan didn't come up when ivy told him to and he missed all the food.  so he scraped the pans and got what he could:

ivy had a glucose test for the baby scheduled for today and she was drinking a tiki punch and then realized just HOW MUCH sugar was in it!

i'm sure she had fun fasting all night and today.

the wind was horrible and these brave souls were out there.  for hours. 

this was fun, but i hope we have a little more notice next year.  we were rushed, but i think we pulled it off!

YAY!

german pancakes!!

i used to spend every summer with my dad in portland when i was growing up and we would go to elmer's a lot for breakfast.  i always got the same thing...a german pancake (or dutch baby, if you wanna get sassy).  i don't remember ever ordering anything else from there.  i'm sure i must have at some point, but i don't remember.  anyway, it's my favorite breakfast in the whole wide world.  every time i go to portland, i always go to elmer's and get one.

i finally got smart and thought of looking online for the recipe and found out how to make them and have been eating them regularly here at home for the past 6 months or so.  i keep meaning to do a blog post, but haven't got around to it until now.  mostly because our small supply of strawberry plants in the yard are getting ripe and maya and i wanted them for breakfast!

not too many were ripe, just enough for both of us:

the recipe is here, but i don't add the nutmeg (ick) and i heat my oven to 450 degrees and don't change it and cook for 10 minutes and pull it out.  other than that, everything is the same as the recipe.  

i usually add lemon juice to it after it's done and today we went all out, so here's our toppings:

mmmm....whipped topping.  i never use this crap.  but it's soooo tasty!!

here it is in the oven right before i pulled it out:

and it's on a normal sized plate, you just can't see it :)

it looks like a huge freaking pancake, but really, it's not.  2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup flour.  not really much.  it's just poofs up so nicely.  i gobble the whole thing down no problem.  and i'm not that big.

they were delicous.  maya and i each had one.  she couldn't finish hers, but i had no problem.

on a side note, my plant out in the yard is blooming.  it blooms for about a week a year and the blooms last one day each.  they're such pretty blossoms.  all crinkly and white.  i'm always happy when it blooms.  i should probably find out what it's called...

obiwan kenobi told me in the lobby...

CIBO MATTO!

i really never thought i would actually get to see them!  i got into them right after they broke up and have been crossing my fingers and toes ever since for a reunion tour.  it was with great joy and much shouting of "ivy smith! ivy smith!  CIBO MATTO is coming to town!!!" that my little dream was actualized.

so i've been pissing my pants with excitement for the last month waiting for the magical day.  there's been much talk of the show between grace, joseph, sally and juan and i.  juan has just two words for you: cibo. matto.

i went and picked up poops before the show to eat and do some people watching on crapitol hill because everyone else had to work until 8:30 or 9:30.

when we got to neumos it was with great happiness that the cibo matto posters were right by bill callahan's posters.  bill was playing the next night and as much as i love him, i just couldn't go to two shows two nights in a row in the middle of the work week.  don't worry bill!  i'll be there next time.  PROMISE!

we then waited a while in the line for will call:

i was super excited also to get some kick ass merch and the only letdown of the whole spectacle was the fact THAT THEY HAD NO MERCHANDISE!  i wanted stickers.  i wanted tshirts.  i wanted buttons.  i wanted posters.  i was going to spend money!  but nope, only one crappy tshirt that i couldn't bring myself to buy. *sigh*

that's ok...the show was AWESOME!  they totally ripped it up on 'birthday cake' and they played 'sci fi wasabi' which is my favorite song of theirs.  grace was extra happy to hear 'moonchild' and 'sugar water'.  

this was the first show of the tour and also the first show that they have played together since 2001.  they had a couple of new songs and i hope that means...NEW ALBUM!  and hopefully more shows in the future because i would loooooooooooove to see them again!

my camera sucks and people's iphones were taking way better pics than my camera so here is the best shot i have (and it ain't good):

that's yuka honda on the left and miho hatori on the right.  damn...those two look good for their age.  they are kick ass women!!

bling!!!

at the friday meeting at work it ended up with much giggling, office space references, wishes for everyone to have their very own red stapler and christine and i daydreaming about having some blinged out staplers.  then i quickly jumped in and offered to bling out her stapler for her since i have tacky fake jewels.  i wanted to bling mine out too, but i took far long than i thought it would and mine will have to wait for a later weekend.

it started out as your average boring ass stapler:

my tools for the project:

fake jewels, one stapler and super glue. also included: remote controls for watching 5 or 6 episodes of NCIS in a row.

i had originally gotten the fake jewels years ago when bubba and i both still had out vw buses and were making our steering wheels and dashboards awfully pretty.  i miss my bus. *sigh*  i miss bubbs too. *double sigh*

the first glues:

getting there:

my hot cup of white pomegranate tea totally helped.

and the final product:

awwwww...shit!  i hope she likes it.  i sure do.  i gotta do mine.  i need some more solid colors and then i'm gonna go for it.  the next crappy weekend here will see some stapler action for me.  and the way this summer is going, that will be next weekend.  of course, i still have a bunch of sewing to do, so maybe i should get that done first!

ok...gotta go do my nails now.